By THANDIWE MOYO –

DESPITE the significant progress made to enhance the educational sector in Zambia, a number of problems have arisen from the new curriculum, particularly for grade nine pupils.
Probably a larger number of concerned citizens will agree that the grade nines have been seen to struggle with instability looking at the lower pass rate in Lusaka and other provinces in Zambia.
However, General Education Minister John Phiri in his recent announcement of the grade nine results for the 2015 examinations said the highest pass rate in Zambia came from the Copperbelt followed by Muchinga and Western provinces, ranking Lusaka as the lowest among all the provinces.
A total of 134,123 learners made it to grade 10 out of 278,184 who had sat for last year’s grade nine examinations. About 70,699 of those who passed were boys, while 63,424 were girls and the boys’ national progression rate stood at 50.02 per cent compared to 46.35 per cent for girls.
The highest pass rate by province was Copperbelt, Muchinga and Western at 55.28 per cent while Lusaka, Central and Southern were the lowest at 42.74 per cent.
This development has come as a shock as Lusaka has had a vast number of learning facilities and opportunities as compared to other provinces such as Muchinga.
Nevertheless, stakeholders from various parts of the country feel there is need to scrutinise such unpleasant situations holding on to the eminent cause which could be transition of a new curriculum on the learners.
Apparently, experts have suggested that the advent of the new growth theories will transform the pupil’s attitude towards practical innovations and the importance of information technology in their academics.
This author took time to talk to various stakeholders including the teachers, pupils and various examining boards on why most pupils failed to cross over to Grade 10 after sitting for exams in 2015.
Interestingly, it should be stated that from the onset that even the Secondary School Teachers Union of Zambia (SESTUZ) was cognisant of the fact that the new transition of subjects was a huge challenge to be undertaken by learners and teachers in a short period of time, thereby causing the lower pass rate.
SESTUZ general secretary Sitibekiso Wauyuwa said the union was not happy with the low pass rate of the grade nines, especially in Lusaka.
Mr Wauyuma said teachers and learners also contributed to the learners’ failure, adding that in as much as the new transition of subjects could be the steak of the lower pass rate, even the lack of commitment by teachers was among the causes.
He said most pupils in Lusaka spent more time on social media at the expense of studying and that some teachers were not committed to their work and thus they needed to redouble their efforts.
“We know that the new curriculum was a huge challenge to our learners and not easy for teachers to grasp but we think this problem should be looked at from all angles which is that of the teachers, pupils as well as parents,” he said.
Mr Wauyuma urged Government to increase the budgetary allocation towards education so as to procure the necessary equipment for the learners such as books for the new subjects as well as computers as most schools in Zambia had inadequate computers.
“We appreciate that Government deployed several teachers but with the vast demand, we hope more teachers should be deployed as some teachers undergo workload making them not to teach as per requirement,” Mr Wauyuma said.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Education director of standards of curriculum Cecilia Sakala said Lusaka being on a bottom pass rate among all the provinces was a wonder and needed to be assessed as it accorded a larger percentage of learner candidates of exams as compared to other provinces.
She said regardless of the situation, the curriculum board would continue training teachers on the vocational and skill trade courses so they understand better on how to teach the learners as those were the new subjects on board.
“The delayed procurement of books could have contributed to the learners’ failure but we hope our next Grade nine learners will have the books as we have already purchased new books in readiness for our learners.
“However, apart from lack of computers and electricity in some parts of Muchinga Province, particularly rural schools, most teachers and learners did very well with the new curriculum which is very encouraging.”
She said it was sad that Lusaka, Chipata and other provinces did not do well even though the learners wrote the same exam.
Ms Sakaka added that the quality of the new curriculum was of benefit to the learners as it taught entrepreneurial skills and needed to be embraced by all well-meaning members of the public regardless of the situation.
“The transition could have made some learners fail as some teachers were not conversant with the courses but already teachers have been sent to schools to help them understand the new courses,” she said.
Chanda Mwamba, one of the pupils that failed the Grade nine examination, said it was evident that the transitional subjects confused a larger number of learners.
“It is not a secret that many schools, not only in rural areas, but even in Lusaka, have less computers.  Some of us cannot afford to own a computer for that reason, I could not easily grasp the lessons taught by teachers.
“More importantly, I wrote my ICT exams at night making me confused as I got tired of waiting. Since I did not own a computer, it forced me to wait for the four computers we had at our school,” he said.
Examinations Council of Zambia director Michael Chilala said the council had seen the challenges that both teachers and learners faced and that its mandate was to mitigate the hardships so that such problems should not recur.
Dr Chilala also said for the learners to improve in their education, the teachers, learners and parents needed to be committed to their roles.
“As long as we are in this world we must know that we are linked to each other. We must cease criticism which will always breed negative attitudes but let’s work at criticising with progressive solutions,” he said.
Education could serve as an important milestone in enhancing technological advancement in Zambia yet, in that regard, leaders and examining boards need to develop, improve and share the strategies that optimise development.
It is a great idea to transform from theory to more practical lessons because of the changing world, yet such initiatives should be accompanied by enough computers backed with the seriousness of the learners and teachers.
It is hoped, therefore, that a policy as bright and ambitious as that of the transitional curriculum on the learners, implementation of monitoring lessons should not only be a word of mouth but hopefully it should be a reality to help our learners achieve better results.